For a wildlife manager from Georgia, the call was just part of another work day — but for one eastern kingsnake, it was life or death.
Brandon Sanders, owner of Sanders Wildlife (@SandersWildlife) posted a video of the kingsnake, which had been caught in garden netting in somebody's yard.
"This is something we see typically with landscape netting — animals do get caught in it and often we have to remove them cut by cut," Sanders explained.
He said that the snake had been trapped for about two days without food or water. When Sanders was finally able to remove the final pieces of netting strangling the snake, the snake drank gratefully from a dish of water.
"Thanks for all you do!" one person commented. "Great job!" another agreed.
"Snakes help to keep a healthy balance in our ecosystems," Sanders said. "They're great at naturally managing rodent populations [and venomous snakes]."
Fortunately, this rescue was a success and the kingsnake returned to the wild. But many creatures are not so lucky.
"Landscape netting is a common problem for wildlife, and [it wasn't] our first time having to deal with a call like this," Sanders said. "We have removed everything from snakes and birds to chipmunks and ducks."
While some homeowners and gardeners install landscape netting to protect plants from being nibbled on or to suppress weeds, this is a misguided approach that "does more harm than good and creates maintenance nightmares," according to landscaping expert site Springs and Twigs.
Because of the plastic, easily knotted material — which Sanders shows closely in the video — it's easy for animals to become entangled and die.
Well-intending homeowners have accidentally caused the death or injury of many animals, from chipmunks to garter snakes and more. Not only is this tragic, but it hurts the biodiversity (defined here by the American Museum of Natural History) of the local ecosystem and can have ripple effects on an area's overall health.
The netting, and similarly used landscape fabric, also tends to be so thick that it smothers even desired native plants to death by preventing them from accessing oxygen, sunlight, and water. Finally, the components in some netting can release microplastic particles into the surrounding area and cause lasting damage to the soil and plants growing there.
So if you're looking to upgrade your yard, skip the deadly plastic fabric — your friendly neighborhood snakes will thank you.
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